Ponnachi Mahadevaswamy, the emissary who was designated by the Karnataka government to negotiate with Veerappan, said on Sunday that he had met the forest brigand twice before former Karnataka minister H Nagappa was killed.

The Janata Dal-United Kollegal block president told rediff.com that he had met Veerappan on the 106th day of crisis.

"I requested him [Veerappan] to release my leader [Nagappa] as he was old," he said.

But the brigand said he would free Nagappa only if the government released Tamil activist Kolathur Mani.

"He was adamant and refused to discuss anything with me," Mahadevaswamy said, whose father ran a quarry in partnership with Veerappan's godfather Seviar Gounder many years ago.

The JD-U leader said he had also met Nagappa and given him some medicines and clothes.

"He became a little emotional when he saw me and we spoke for few minutes," he said.

He, however, refused to give details of the conversation.

Mahadevaswamy said he went again after twenty days. "This time Veerappan refused to let me meet my leader. He said he would arrange for the medicines and the food," he said.

He said he had instructed JD-U workers to give Veerappan whatever he asked for.

Some of the party workers supplied food and medicines to the gang. "We wanted to ensure a smooth life for our leader in captivity.

"I had permission from the concerned authorities and after coming back from each visit I reported to them," he said.

Asked if he could have got Nagappa released, he said, "He [Veerappan] is unpredictable. If anything raises suspicion in him, he resorts to murder. I could have done very little to have Nagappa released."